


the stars in the sky (oh how far away you are)

by MusicPlotter



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24580363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicPlotter/pseuds/MusicPlotter
Summary: The night has stretched on and Peter has a question.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	the stars in the sky (oh how far away you are)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coconutknightshade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coconutknightshade/gifts).



> Hey Polly! Did you know you're awesome? Imagine a cat sliding a dead mouse over to you as a gift, that's me.

“Mr Stark?”

“Yeah, kid?”

He stared at the failed experiment in front of him, refusing to look anywhere else. “Do you think that the stars get lonely sometimes?”

“I think, that for a star to be lonely, it would have to be alone first, wouldn’t it?”

Tony’s voice was firm, as it always had been, but gentle in a way that only years of learning to care, to allow himself to love, had allowed him. In a time like this - when the world felt like it was speeding away from him, leaving him to desperately run behind to try and catch up, to almost reach everyone else, almost, only to trip and be forced to watch it gain distance again – it was comforting.

“Yeah, but they’re alone – some are thousands of miles away from anything else. And even the one’s that aren’t, I think they’d still be lonely.” He brought his head to rest in his hands and closed his eyes.

“You do?”

“Well they’re so different from everyone else, aren’t they? The sun, for example, sure it has planets orbiting it, but the planets are similar, they share personality traits and interests – the sun though? It’s sitting in the middle with people it’s known for years surrounding it, but it must still feel like an outcast.”

“Perhaps the sun doesn’t need to have a lot in common with the planets for them to get along.” God, Tony’s voice sounded how it always did when he thought Peter was missing something obvious. It only made him more frustrated.

He brought a fist down onto the table. “But that doesn’t work! The sun would try and try and each time it would be left dangling at the edge of conversations, never quite able to fit in.”

“Not if the planets have anything to say about it.”

“What do you mean?” He whispered, defeated, wishing that he could keep his eyes closed forever.

“They would hardly just let the sun feel lonely, would they? Not when the sun is such an integral part of their lives, it would be against their very nature to do so when their lives revolve around it.”

Peter locked his fingers behind his head and squeezed his eyes tightly – if he never opened them then he’d never have to ruin the image in his head, never have to come to a startling halt again and remember that Tony was -

“I really wish you were here right now Mr Stark. I bet you could stop all the stars in the universe from ever feeling lonely again.”

“I am here Pete.”

“You’re not.” He’d tried his best, but no AI was ever going to come close to Tony Stark. “Not really.”

Silence reigned.

“There are other planets.”

“What?” Peter barely choked it out, throat tight with a mix of anger and pain and grief – god, there was so much grief, how was he supposed to keep moving when it weighed down his every step?

“There are other planets around the sun. Just because one goes away, it doesn’t mean that those left will. The star can keep going, keep shining, even when it’s alone and sad, because it won’t always be alone, eventually, it’ll attract something else to its orbit.”

There was no stopping his sobs now and he gave up on trying. He just wanted to feel a firm hand on his shoulder, to hear an awkward _‘kid?’_ – he just wanted Tony Stark back.

And it hurt, because he wasn’t crying for Morgan who would grow up without a father or Pepper who had been widowed too young, or even the rest of humanity who would be forced to face threats with just a lousy vigilante to protect them – no he was crying because he didn’t have anyone to share his outlandish science ideas with.

God, how selfish could he get? He’d lost the least out of everyone and here he was, crying to a bad replica of the very man he’d killed.

“Peter?”

He swivelled in his seat, nearly falling and scrubbed at his eyes, sending Pepper a weak grin. “Miss Potts, what are you doing up? It’s late.”

“I think that’s supposed to be my line. I hadn’t heard you go to bed, I thought I’d make sure you hadn’t passed out down here.” Her heels clicked against the floor as she made her way over and tutted when she saw his face, no doubt tear-streaked. “Oh honey, come here.”

She opened her arms and he didn’t have the strength to resist them, not today.

“Miss Potts?”

“Yes, Peter?”

There were so many things he wanted to say: an apology, an explanation, promises to fix everything – but what came out was a question.

“Do you think that stars get lonely?”

Time stilled as she considered her answer.

“They’re so far away, so maybe to us it seems like there’s a massive distance between one and the other, but to them, the distance is normal, so they don’t need to feel lonely, because they’ve always got someone close to them.”

“You’re probably right.”

She laughed, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “I usually am, perks of motherhood. Now, are we feeling hot chocolate and a movie, or do you want some company whilst you continue to tinker around down here?”

Peter hummed seriously and tilted his head, “Marshmallows?”

“As if you’d let me forget them.”

He laughed brightly and extracted himself from her arms, hurrying to clean up his failure and vowing to himself to get it right tomorrow. “Hot chocolate and a movie it is!”

“I’m not watching another Disney movie; I swear Morgan’s infected you with her obsession.”

“Pfft, as if I’m not the one who infected her.”

Pepper gave him a considering look as they started walking to the living room. “Then you should pay for your crimes – I’m thinking a rom-com.”

“Not if I get there first, how do you feel about Moana?”

It was late, and Peter’s eyes were still wet, but the world seemed that little bit brighter as they raced towards the remote, like maybe there was hope for the future.

Maybe at first glance the stars might seem lonely, but you only needed to look, to _really_ _look_ to see that that had never been an option, that’s just not how the universe worked.

**Author's Note:**

> What even is this? Did any of that make sense? 
> 
> I don't know, I've missed irondad, which this kind of included? I guess? It's barely edited and written at 1am and I STILL don't know if I should have capitalised 'sun' after searching for 10 minutes.
> 
> Either way, sun or Sun, leave a comment to let me know what you thought! You can find me [@musicplotter](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/musicplotter) on Tumblr if you want to chat :D
> 
> ALSO, did you know about THE best person in the world, [@coconutknightshade](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/coconutknightshade)? Please go and remind them how wonderful they are.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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